Tunnel will be considered for new Cape Fear crossing

North Carolina Department of Transportation Chief of Staff Bobby Lewis speaks to City Council at a meeting with the N.C. Department of Transportation during a bridge workshop meeting at City Hall Nov. 26.

Published: Monday, November 26, 2012 at 12:46 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, November 26, 2012 at 12:46 p.m.

A meeting meant to kick-start the building of another crossing of the Cape Fear River between Brunswick County and Wilmington put the option of a tunnel on the table while showcasing local officials’ wariness of the N.C. Department of Transportation.

About 25 citizens attended the DOT officials’ presentation and the question-and-answer session that followed in Wilmington City Hall on Monday morning.

The pricetag for a no-toll tunnel built along the Skyway Route between Independence Boulevard in Wilmington and southern Brunswick County would be about $700 million, $88 million more than the structure for a toll-free Skyway-type project, said Bobby Lewis, DOT’s chief of staff.

Maintenance costs would be about the same for a tunnel or bridge, Lewis added.

A tunnel near the existing Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is unlikely because the river is narrow enough there that the tube would have to emerge around Ninth or 10th Street in Wilmington, forcing the city to upgrade several roads in the area.

At its Dec. 12 meeting, the region’s Transportation Advisory Committee will vote on whether to continue an environmental study of all available options – including a Skyway-type bridge project near the Port of Wilmington, a tunnel, and an addition to or replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.

“You’ve got to utilize the data to determine what the best solution is, and the environmental study will provide all of that data,” said Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Lewis said that if approved, the full environmental study would be complete at the start of summer in 2015.

The DOT will begin exploring funding options for a new crossing in about six months, presenting its final report on those at the same time as the environmental study.

One purpose for the meeting was to bridge the gap between the DOT and local officials, allowing the two to share information and move ahead on a bridge project that’s made herky-jerky progress since beginning in 2006.

“I want this process to go to where it’s about us considering everything that’s put on the table and we just quit with the ‘You’s’ or the ‘I’s’ or the ‘they’s,’ ” Lewis said. “It’s just ‘us’ or ‘we,’ and we do this together.”

Despite Lewis’ efforts to bring the two organizations together, some members of the local committee weren’t satisfied with the information provided by the DOT.

“I was disappointed in the lack of specifics,” said Laura Padgett, a Wilmington city councilwoman and chairwoman of the Transportation Advisory Committee.

Padgett asked Lewis to provide a summary of the options on the table to give the committee a feeling for the costs and impact of possible options, a request that wasn’t totally fulfilled.

“We’ve got two different type of people represented in this project: We’ve got (traffic) generators, and we’ve got (traffic) receivers. People on the west side of the bridge tend to be generators, and people on the east tend to be receivers,” said Wrightsville Beach Alderman Bill Sisson.

To fold that type of local understanding into their evaluation of the project, the DOT recommended that the Transportation Advisory Committee create a five-person group with two DOT and three local representatives to serve as an intermediary between the two organizations.

<p>A meeting meant to kick-start the building of another crossing of the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic91"><b>Cape Fear River</b></a> between Brunswick County and Wilmington put the option of a tunnel on the table while showcasing local officials' wariness of the N.C. Department of Transportation.</p><p>About 25 citizens attended the DOT officials' presentation and the question-and-answer session that followed in Wilmington City Hall on Monday morning.</p><p>The pricetag for a no-toll tunnel built along the Skyway Route between Independence Boulevard in Wilmington and southern Brunswick County would be about $700 million, $88 million more than the structure for a toll-free Skyway-type project, said Bobby Lewis, DOT's chief of staff.</p><p>Maintenance costs would be about the same for a tunnel or bridge, Lewis added.</p><p>A tunnel near the existing Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is unlikely because the river is narrow enough there that the tube would have to emerge around Ninth or 10th Street in Wilmington, forcing the city to upgrade several roads in the area.</p><p>At its Dec. 12 meeting, the region's Transportation Advisory Committee will vote on whether to continue an environmental study of all available options – including a Skyway-type bridge project near the Port of Wilmington, a tunnel, and an addition to or replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.</p><p>“You've got to utilize the data to determine what the best solution is, and the environmental study will provide all of that data,” said Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization.</p><p>Lewis said that if approved, the full environmental study would be complete at the start of summer in 2015.</p><p>The DOT will begin exploring funding options for a new crossing in about six months, presenting its final report on those at the same time as the environmental study. </p><p>One purpose for the meeting was to bridge the gap between the DOT and local officials, allowing the two to share information and move ahead on a bridge project that's made herky-jerky progress since beginning in 2006.</p><p>“I want this process to go to where it's about us considering everything that's put on the table and we just quit with the 'You's' or the 'I's' or the 'they's,' ” Lewis said. “It's just 'us' or 'we,' and we do this together.” </p><p>Despite Lewis' efforts to bring the two organizations together, some members of the local committee weren't satisfied with the information provided by the DOT.</p><p>“I was disappointed in the lack of specifics,” said <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic73"><b>Laura Padgett</b></a>, a Wilmington city councilwoman and chairwoman of the Transportation Advisory Committee.</p><p>Padgett asked Lewis to provide a summary of the options on the table to give the committee a feeling for the costs and impact of possible options, a request that wasn't totally fulfilled.</p><p>“We've got two different type of people represented in this project: We've got (traffic) generators, and we've got (traffic) receivers. People on the west side of the bridge tend to be generators, and people on the east tend to be receivers,” said Wrightsville Beach Alderman Bill Sisson.</p><p>To fold that type of local understanding into their evaluation of the project, the DOT recommended that the Transportation Advisory Committee create a five-person group with two DOT and three local representatives to serve as an intermediary between the two organizations.</p><p>Adam Wagner: 343-2096</p><p>On <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41"><b>Twitter</b></a>: @adamwagner1990</p>